PARIS: Two-time defending champions La Rochelle will be hoping that the return of Gregory Alldritt to Champions Cup duty this weekend can reverse the French club’s fortunes with a victory over Leicester. The emblematic No 8 has played in two Top 14 games since making his comeback from a two-month post-World Cup break.

His presence helped La Rochelle to an impressive 29-8 victory over Top 14 rivals and five-time European champions Toulouse and a 29-20 win over Pau in festive league action. Ronan O’Gara’s team are, however, without a win in Pool 4 in the Champions Cup. They went down 16-9 in their opener at home to Leinster and were then pipped by a point away to the Stormers, both played during Alldritt’s absence. That has left them with a crunch match when they host Leicester on Sunday.

And O’Gara will be happy to fully integrate Alldritt after a break that saw him return to the family home in the southern Gers region and also attend the wedding of his older brother Scott, in Scotland, the land of their father. "They did me a lot of good,” Alldritt told AFP in an interview of his holidays.

"These are things that are important to me and that I don’t necessarily manage to do in normal times.” Golf, padel and jogging by the sea were order of the day, "things that I’m not used to doing”.

Regenerate better

Alldritt said his body had benefitted from the break. "I could have played rugby in November or December, but I had this desire (to take a break) because the season is long, there are still five months left,” he said. "Physically, I felt that I needed to recover... If I had to do it again, I would. It’s work on the future: to come back even stronger afterwards. The goal was to regenerate better to come back better.” A change in fortunes in the Champions Cup, Alldritt said, was now on the cards.

"The whole team are disappointed not to have won at least one of those two matches,” he said. "We are still in the race. We have to continue to progress and perform in line with the last two weeks. "We have to win this weekend (against Leicester) and send our fans home happy again.”

Looking ahead, Alldritt expressed his hopes of being able to rebound from what he called an "emotional” 2023. "There were incredible emotions, first with a second Champions Cup title for La Rochelle, and then a World Cup in France, even if it was a defeat in the quarter-finals,” he said. — AFP

"For 2024, I want to continue winning titles. Once you taste it, you just want more. I want to fill the trophy cabinet to the hilt.” La Rochelle’s match is followed by a mouth-watering clash between in-form Bordeaux-Begles and Saracens in Pool 1. Toulouse, unbeaten in Pool 2 along with Bath, face a tricky away match under floodlights at Ulster on Saturday while the English team entertain Racing 92. — AFP